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Latest News

for immediate release​

WASHINGTON
– Feb. 26, 2013 – Representatives from the nation’s major freight railroads
tomorrow will tell the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that despite an
unrelenting commitment to safely implementing fully interoperable positive
train control (PTC), doing so across all of more than 60,000 route miles
required before the congressionally mandated 2015 deadline is still not
possible.

“Freight
railroads are determined to safely implement PTC, and have been putting vast
resources and energy behind efforts to do so,” said AAR President and CEO
Edward R. Hamberger. “But the fact is, it’s simply impossible to safely
install a reliable, fully interoperable PTC system everywhere it is required by
the 2015 deadline. There may be segments of track across the country that will
be PTC operable by the 2015 deadline, but completely implementing PTC on the
more than 60,000 route miles required by the mandate is still not possible by 2015.”

Since
Congress mandated PTC in 2008, freight railroads have spent more than $2.7
billion on implementation, including the design, development and testing of
completely new communications technology, on-board computers, radios and
back-office train dispatching software that allows each railroad’s PTC system
to work together safely.

While
much remains to be done before PTC implementation is complete, significant
progress has been made. For example, through the end of 2012 railroads have:

partially equipped 6,072 locomotives with PTC onboard equipment out of a total
18,100 locomotives involved in full implementation;

acquired 2,775 220MHz base, wayside and locomotive radios out of the 56,035
that will be needed.

Hamberger
also noted that freight railroads are continuing the process of mapping more
than 475,000 critical features of the rail system into a computerized track
database and much remains to be completed. Railroads also will have to
conduct specialized PTC-related training for approximately three quarters of
all employees in the railroad industry workforce once the technology is
deployed in their service territory.

Major
commuter railroads and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) also have told
Congress that technological challenges and a scarcity of necessary funds make
meeting the 2015 implementation deadline extremely unlikely.

“Doing
what is right and safe must steer this process, not a subjective deadline. We
are up against significant hurdles every day and they must be overcome before
PTC is launched across every major railroad’s network,” Hamberger said.

Finally,
Hamberger also shared a concern that the FRA must rely on its team of PTC
specialists to review and certify railroad PTC plans prior to the 2015
deadline. “This is a tremendous burden to achieve in such a short period of
time with a limited but highly specialized staff,” he said.

“This
is one of the most significant technological undertakings in transportation
history,” Hamberger said. “Safely implementing interoperable PTC cannot be
rushed – we must get it right to ensure rail continues to be the safest way to
move both people and goods.”

About AAR: The Association of American Railroads (AAR) is
the world's leading railroad policy, research and technology organization
focusing on the safety and productivity of rail carriers. AAR members include
the major freight railroads of the U.S., Canada and Mexico, as well as Amtrak.
Learn more at www.aar.org. Follow us on
Twitter: AAR_FreightRail or Facebook: www.facebook.com/freightrail.​